1. Field of the Description
The present description relates, in general, to theme or amusement park rides that have cable-suspended passenger or guest vehicles, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for selectively changing the position and/or the orientation of vehicle bodies or vehicles within a work or show space using two or more winches or cable drives to suspend the vehicles a selectable distance from each winch/cable drive and with one or more of the winches/cable drives supported by a carrier moving on one or more tracks (e.g., one or more winches has a movable/positionable anchor point to allow for a variable workspace for the ride vehicle. The elevation of the vehicle, the orientation of the vehicle (roll, pitch, and yaw), and its X-Y coordinates when viewed from above may be varied along the length or path of the track by operation of the winches/cable drives.
2. Relevant Background
Amusement parks continue to be popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Park operators continuously seek new designs for thrill and other rides because these rides attract large numbers of people to their parks each year. However, most parks also have strict space limitations such that rides with smaller footprints are often more attractive to park operators. In theme and other parks, in addition to high-speed or thrill portions of rides, many rides incorporate a slower portion or segment to their rides to allow them to provide a “show” in which animation, movies, three-dimensional (3D) effects and displays, audio, and other effects are presented as vehicles proceed through such show portions. The show portions of rides are often run or started upon sensing the presence of a vehicle and are typically designed to be most effective when vehicles travel through the show portion at a particular speed. As a result, it is preferable that vehicles are selectively positioned along a track near show elements, can be oriented towards specific show elements, and have the ability to vary/control the speed at which the vehicles travel, e.g., faster during thrill portions and slower during show portions.
Motion simulators have been popular rides for much of the past twenty years. During this time period, though, the general configuration of the rides has changed very little and these rides have several major drawbacks. First, the rides attempt to simulate a feeling of weightlessness, but this is not possible for more than a brief interval as sustained acceleration is constrained to 1 G at some angle relative to the guests/passengers except for very short intervals that are limited by an actuator length or stroke. Second, the ride capacity and/or cycle time is dependent on load time since the motion base and the show environment occupy the same physical space, which forces an undesirable “spill/fill” loading scenario. For example, a ride may take the form of a cable-suspended flight simulator or the like in which the winches supporting the vehicle are rigidly anchored to support structures above the vehicle and the vehicle moves through a fixed volume or space during the ride. Guests/passengers typically load and unload from the same general location. The fixed location of the vehicle results in a limited show space for the ride, which may be thought of as a third limitation of such rides. A fourth limitation is that the physical space required for a conventional motion simulator ride is directly proportional to the actuator stroke.
Hence, there remains a need for improved amusement or theme park rides that provide large show space and that provide new and exciting ride experiences such as by including longer weightless portions, by providing rapid side-to-side and/or vertical position movements, and/or by allowing passenger control over vehicle positioning/movements. Other benefits of such a system may include the fact that the vehicle is following a progammed or guest-controlled path. This allows for many opportunities to vary or customize the path to the preference of the passenger/rider (e.g., thrill level, story branches, exploration opportunities, and the like).